Chapter 21: The Thaw of 1971

  In Zhongnanhai, Beijing, Lin Feng saw Chairman Mao Zedong again. He found that this time Mao looked more haggard than before. Seeing Mao standing at the door of his study, Lin Feng hastened his pace and walked up to him, grasping both of Mao's hands with his own and saying: "Chairman, you must take care of your health."

  "Don't worry, we can't defy the natural law of birth, aging, illness and death. Even if I'm gone, don't worry, China still has Xiaoping and others."

  Lin Feng knew that since last year, many veteran cadres had returned to leadership positions, especially Deng Ping, who was younger and more capable, had gradually taken over the daily work of the State Council from Zhou Enlai, who was in poor health.

  "Mr. Chairman, this time I came to Beijing with a very important matter to discuss with you. As our country has already begun modernization construction, the pressure from the strong northern neighbor is too great, and every year so much funding needs to be invested in the northern border defense, which is extremely unfavorable for our national development. At present, we need to find new 'friends'."

  "You mean America?" Mao said, lighting a cigarette.

  "That's right, it's the United States. The US is now losing continuously in the Vietnam War and urgently wants to find an ally to share the pressure. Once diplomatic relations are established with the US, the Soviet Union will definitely not dare to arbitrarily launch armed attacks on us. At the same time, we can also import industrial equipment needed from the US. However, before that, in order to prevent the US from using Taiwan to blackmail us, I think it's best for the mainland and Taiwan to reach a peace agreement first, which can also stimulate the Americans."

  Mao puffed on his cigarette and said: "This idea is not bad, you can discuss the specifics with Enlai and Xiaoping. What else do you want to say, go ahead and say it all at once."

  Lin Feng said with embarrassment: "What I'm going to say next is that I need people from the President, I know that since our country launched its first artificial satellite last year and just launched an experimental satellite this year, Mr. President knows that I am a future person, there are many advanced aviation and space technologies and equipment in my place, but I don't have enough aerospace talents in my hands."

  "This time I came, I think we can cooperate to build China's global satellite navigation system. Once this system is built, it will greatly enhance our country's military strength and also have great economic benefits."

  Mao* Xi listened to this and did not express his position directly, but said: "You tell me carefully about this positioning system"

  An hour later, Lin Feng gave Mao Zedong a detailed introduction to the composition and application of the Global Positioning System. After listening, Mao Zedong asked me to find Nie Rongzhen, who was in charge of the National Defense Science and Technology Commission, and finally, Nie Rongzhen personally led the formation of the Global Positioning System leadership group. The members of the group were mostly outstanding talents from the mainland's aviation and aerospace fields, as well as some researchers from Taiwan's National Tsing Hua University. This group would be responsible for building China's global navigation system over the next decade.

  In late March 1970, the Communist Party of mainland China and the Nationalist Party of Taiwan jointly issued a statement in Beijing: The Beijing government is currently the only legitimate central government of China, and the Communist Party is the only legitimate ruling party. Taiwan is an inseparable part of China. In order to maintain stability and peace in the Taiwan Strait region, the mainland central government will keep the current administrative policy on Taiwan unchanged for 50 years.

  This thunderbolt directly blew the United States and Little Japan to a crisp, creating a huge loophole in the two strategic island chains carefully constructed by the United States. Originally, the United States was already at a disadvantage in its confrontation with the Soviet Union, but now Taiwan has stabbed it in the back, making its already precarious position of hegemony even more unstable. The United States is even more eager to find new strategic balance points to offset the threat from the Soviet Union.

  At the 31st World Table Tennis Championships held in Nagoya, Japan in March-April 1971. On the first day of the competition, when the Chinese team took a bus back to their hotel from the sports hall, American athlete Cohen came up and hitched a ride. The car arrived at the hotel in about 15 minutes, while for the first 10 minutes nobody had any conversation.

  Later, Chinese athlete Zhuang Zedong took the initiative to shake hands with him and chat, and gave him a Hangzhou brocade with a picture of Huangshan as a souvenir. At that time, Glenn thought about returning something, but only found a comb in his bag.

  He said "I want to give you something, but I couldn't possibly give you a comb". The scene of Cohen holding the tapestry while getting off the car was captured by reporters on site and became explosive news.

  The next day, Cohen prepared a T-shirt with the peace sign and "Let It Be" printed on it, waiting for Zhuang Zedong at the route that the Chinese team must pass through, presenting it to him and hugging him.

  The reporter asked Cohen if he wanted to go to China. Cohen replied: "I want to go to any country I haven't been to, Argentina, Australia, China."

  The reporter asked again: "That is, especially China as a country, do you want to go?" Cohen gave an affirmative answer. Later, Harrison, the deputy leader of the US table tennis team, came to the hotel where the Chinese table tennis team was staying and met with the person in charge of the Chinese delegation, asking if they could invite the US team to visit China.

  The Chinese Foreign Ministry received the report from the national team and immediately forwarded it to Premier Zhou Enlai and Chairman Mao Zedong. Chairman Mao Zedong immediately instructed that an invitation be extended to the US table tennis team to visit China.

  The next day, the U.S. State Department received a report from the U.S. Embassy in Japan on China's invitation to the U.S. table tennis team to visit China and immediately reported it to the White House. Nixon learned of this message late at night and immediately sent a telegram to the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, agreeing to the Chinese invitation.

  Nixon later said: "I never thought that a move of this sort would be the way to open up China."

  April 10 to 17, the US Table Tennis Association officials and athletes 4 officers and Cohen, Reesek and other 9 athletes, as well as two spouses and a small group of American journalists arrived in Beijing via Hong Kong.

  Cohn and others became the first American athletes to be allowed into the People's Republic of China since 1949. During this time, Zhou came every day with detailed instructions on how to respond to various unexpected situations.

  As of April 12, 1971, at 11:00, Zhou specifically pointed out in his instructions that "they can be arranged to visit the Forbidden City"; on the evening of April 13, he suggested "to watch the model opera theater, since the CPPCC auditorium is not quite suitable, it should be arranged in the small auditorium on the third floor of the Great Hall of the People", and made proper arrangements for the change of the model opera theater.

  The US team played two matches in Beijing and Shanghai. On the morning of April 14, several members of the US and Canadian teams suddenly fell ill, and the US table tennis delegation had a misunderstanding with the Chinese translator, thinking that the Chinese side intentionally kept the US team members from leaving.

  Upon learning of this, he instructed swift treatment. If possible, arrange for a meeting and ensure the personal freedom of the American team members.

  "On the same day, when receiving the US table tennis team at the Great Hall of the People, he said: 'You have opened a new chapter in the relationship between the peoples of China and the United States. I believe that this new beginning of our friendship will be supported by the majority of people from both countries.'"

  Hours after Nixon's speech on the week*, Nixon announced a series of measures to open up China. The visiting group also toured the Great Wall and visited Tsinghua University, among other places.

  The table tennis teams of China and the United States visited each other, causing a sensation in international public opinion, becoming a major event that attracted worldwide attention, known as "Ping-Pong Diplomacy". This ended the isolation of personnel exchanges between China and the US for more than 20 years, making Sino-US reconciliation a historic breakthrough.

  In July 1971, US President Nixon's National Security Adviser Dr. Kissinger secretly visited mainland China, and at that time their biggest trump card, Taiwan, could no longer play the role it had in history.

  It is clear that since the mainland and Taiwan issued a joint statement, the United States has been in an extremely passive position. The troops stationed in Taiwan have made preparations to withdraw to Japan and are waiting for formal diplomatic relations between China and the US to be established before withdrawing from Taiwan immediately.

  During this period, Lin Feng had been staying in Xichang, where the China Satellite Launch Center was being built and would also be the location of the main control station for GPS in the future. After learning of Kissinger's visit to China, he did not rush back to Beijing, as all the negotiation plans had already been made before Kissinger's arrival.

  On July 9, Kissinger and Zhou held secret negotiations with the Premier. Due to the limited trump cards in the hands of the US government at that time, China always had the upper hand, and finally an agreement was reached between the two sides.

  The United States supports the People's Republic of China to restore its legitimate seat in the United Nations; both sides agree that all countries, regardless of their social systems, should treat each other according to the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence: respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-aggression, non-interference in internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence.

  International disputes shall be settled on the basis of the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence, namely, mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, mutual non-aggression, non-interference in each other's internal affairs, equality and mutual benefit, and peaceful coexistence. The United States and the People's Republic of China will accordingly recognize and respect each other's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

  Considering the above-mentioned principles of international relations, both sides stated that: The normalization of Sino-US relations is in the interest of all countries; Both sides hope to reduce the danger of international military conflict; Neither side should seek hegemony in the Asia-Pacific region, and each side opposes efforts by any other country or group of countries to establish such hegemony; Neither side is prepared to negotiate on behalf of any third party or to enter into agreements or understandings with the other side at the expense of other countries.

  Both sides believe that any large country colluding with another large country against other countries, or a large country dividing the world into spheres of interest, is contrary to the interests of the people of all countries in the world. At the same time, most importantly, the United States will withdraw all its political and military forces from Taiwan after the formal establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the US. Of course, these agreements were signed secretly, and they will be made public next year after Nixon's visit to China.

  On the morning of July 15, 1971, Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato had just finished a cabinet meeting and was about to leave the conference room when his secretary handed him a memo. After reading it, Sato's expression changed instantly. The memo read: "Dr. Kissinger visited the People's Republic of China from July 9th to 11th. President Nixon will visit China before May next year. (Nixon's Visit to China Communique) Release time is 11:30 Japan time." Sato hastily looked at his watch, 11:27, only three minutes left until the release.

  The news was a "bolt from the blue" for him. He had never imagined that Nixon would leave Japan behind, without any prior contact or consultation, secretly dispatching Kissinger as his special envoy to China and deciding to visit China himself.

  Just eight months ago, when Sato visited the US, Nixon assured him: "As for the future development of our China policy, we will continue to be in close contact and consultation with your country." Now, Nixon's decision to visit China without consulting Japan has put the Sato government in an embarrassing position.